Innerdriving

Proper 12C Luke 11:1-13 St. Matthias July 28, 2019            Recently I have been searching for a book I read years ago with a title that sounded something like – How to Talk to God When You Aren’t Feeling Religious .   I know it is somewhere in the house.   I picked it up in seminary and I remember that it was pretty good.   It focused on 2 facts about prayer.   First, most of our praying goes on when we are feeling religious.   We pray when there is a crisis in our lives, and we are hoping God will divinely intervene and make everything better.   And that leads to the second point – It’s when we AREN’T feeling particularly religious, when we don’t feel all that close to God – THAT is the time when need to pray the most.   But it is also the time when it typically seems especially difficult to pray!            Prayer can be one of...

Inquirer's Class at  St. Matthias. This week I'm trying something new with a video.  It seemed a much better way to talk about the Book of Common Prayer.  I made it myself so its not professional.  However, we do go cover to cover in 17 minutes.  If the video link below gives an error message, go this link.  https://youtu.be/qKtiGU7bwq8

Proper 11C Luke 10:38-42 July 21, 2019 St. Matthias            This morning maybe a first because I don’t know that I have ever mentioned my brother, Steven, in a sermon.   In case you didn’t know, I am the oldest of three with my sister, Laurie, being the middle child and my brother the youngest.   Steven is 2½ years younger than I am and lives in Champaign, IL.   We have some things in common.   We are both about 5 feet 8 inches tall.   We both raise money for a living.     Phyllis says we are both crazy.   There are also a lot of things different about us.   I’m obviously Episcopalian and he is a Presbyterian.   He has 3 daughters and I have 1, but I have a granddaughter and he doesn’t.   He is smarter – but I’m better looking!   He looks more like our mom and I look more like our dad.   There’s probably a lot more that we have in common and a lot more th...

Inquirers Class:  Week 2 So you are back for a 2nd week because you thought, "Surely it can only get better!" or "At least he puts in some pictures!"  Whichever is the case (or both), I will include a few more pictures from the Israel trip to hopefully keep this at least marginally interesting. The Jordan River is really not very big!  I had always imagined it was more like the Black Warrior River and maybe even as big as the Mississippi in some places.  But we crossed the The Jordan River Jordan River several times and it's more like a creek.  But keep in mind, water is scarce in Israel and the Jordan River was really the only river, creek, or stream we saw.  It's also (as you can probably tell) rather muddy.   That is a Russian Orthodox church on the other side.  What you can't see in this photo is the rope that stretches across the middle of the Jordan.  It separates Israel from the country of Jordan.  We stood in ...

Pentecost 5, Proper 10C Luke 10:25-37 St. Matthias July 14, 2019            Today we hear once more, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.   A man was going down to Jericho and we all know what we are supposed to do.   He is left by the side of the road badly beaten and we are called to stop and help.   And someone does and because he is from Samaria, we call him the Good Samaritan because he does what good people are supposed to do.   He is a good example for all of us to follow. There are Good Samaritan hospitals, counseling centers, and homeless shelters.   There are at least a dozen Good Samaritan Episcopal Churches out there.   I found a Good Samaritan App for your iPhone AND EVEN a racehorse named Good Samaritan in Versailles, Kentucky.   Of course, I have to wonder if he stops on the racetrack to help other horses who are injured?         ...

Inquirer's Class Ask Anything You Want July 7, 2019 Since it was the July 4th weekend and I figured a lot of folks would be out of town or watching the World Cup (USA, USA), this week was the opportunity to ask questions - any questions about anything in the Episcopal Church although I did not promise to know the right answer.  We were a small group, but we had a lot of discussion about everything from the role of the Queen in the Church of England to why teenagers have curfews.  It was a most interesting class! What role does Queen Elizabeth play in the Church of England? Queen Elizabeth and Archbishop Justin Welby Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the  Commonwealth , Defender of the Faith .    Imagine trying to fit all that on a business card.  This is the official title of Queen Elizabeth and the term "Defender o...

Proper 9C Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 July 7, 2019 St. Matthias            Imagine leaving Tuscaloosa – your friends and family – and moving somewhere else to start a new Church in a different town. Say - like Hamilton, Alabama.   I don’t think I have ever been to Hamilton and I don’t think I know anyone who lives there.   There is not an Episcopal Church in Hamilton and it’s over an hour from here to there and just as far to Grace Church in Muscle Shoals.   It would take you at least 45 minutes to drive to St. Michael’s in Fayette or St. Mary’s in Jasper.     So, what if Bishop Sloan asked you to go there and start a new church? Now picture the 70 new disciples in our reading from the Gospel of Luke how they must have felt when Jesus sent them out.   We are reading from the 10 th chapter of Luke and it was just in the 6 th chapter that Jesus chose Peter, James, John and the rest of the origina...